The Top Three

🏆 THE INDUSTRY’S MOST IMPORTANT STORIES TODAY

🥇 META PUTS AD TARGETING IN AUTO-PILOT

AI Jesus, take the wheel: Meta announced new updates for its Advantage+ ad campaigns yesterday, handing over even more of your campaign targeting decisions to AI. more

• The company is testing a new setup that eliminates the need to choose between manual or ASC+ campaigns, as Advantage+ will now optimize all campaign elements automatically.

• A new “Advantage+ on” label will show when these AI optimizations are active.

• Meta is renaming Advantage+ shopping campaigns to Advantage+ sales campaigns and expanding Advantage+ to leads campaigns.

• 💼 In other news: Meta is set to implement 5% workforce cuts on Monday.

 🥈 TIKTOK RULES ORGANIC REACH

Wondering how your Facebook or Instagram posts are performing? A new report compares average social media post performance across major social media apps, giving you a clearer picture of how your brand's content measures up against the status quo. more

• TikTok is still king when it comes to organic engagement.

  • TikTok dominates with a 2.5% engagement rate.

  • Instagram lags at 0.5%.

  • Facebook and X both come in at 0.15%.

🥉 SNAP’S AI AD PUSH BEGINS

Snap is finally jumping on the AI ad train, and it's coming soon. During its earnings call, the company revealed it’ll test a new smart budget optimization feature in Q1 2025. more

• This tool automatically adjusts campaign budgets across all assets to maximize results. A pretty standard move for AI-driven ads.

• But, Adweek reports Snap’s version lacks the power of rivals like Google’s PMax and Meta’s Advantage+, which give platforms full control.

• For now, Snap’s version is still a mystery, with little known about its specifics.

• A spokesperson for the company did hint that while it’s not quite on par with its rivals, it’s “comparable.”

Today’s Other News

📰 EVERYTHING ELSE THAT MATTERS

Advertising 📣

• Amazon’s ad revenue increased 18% YoY to $17.3 billion in Q4, slightly missing expectations. Prime Video ads, now in year two, are attracting new advertisers like automotive and financial services brands that wouldn't normally sell products through its marketplace. more

• Meta has removed the Existing Customer Budget Cap from Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns, which let advertisers limit spending on existing customers. You can still do the same thing manually. more

  • If you want to replicate it, Meta recommends two options, which you can learn more about here.

• Google Ads‘s Keyword Planner now organizes new keywords into ad groups. You can enable or disable this feature. more

AI 🤖 

• “Ah shit, here we go again”: Reports say DeepSeek’s iOS app sends data over unencrypted channels, leaving it open to hackers. This data is also sent to servers controlled by Chinese-owned ByteDance. While some data remains encrypted in transit, once decrypted it can be cross-referenced with other user data, identifying users and tracking their activity. more

Search 🔍

• Google Local Reviews Disappearing?: Reports are piling up about missing Google business reviews. Search Engine Roundtable notes a wave of complaints over the past 24 hours in the Google Business Profiles forums, with users seeing their review counts drop. more

  • No word from Google yet on what’s happening.

Social Media 📱

• Pinterest hit all-time highs in revenue and users in Q4, surpassing $1 billion in a single quarter for the first time. Revenue was up 18% year-over-year, while monthly users climbed to 553 million, adding 16 million since Q3. more

• ▶️ Viewers actually want long-form video: Despite YouTube‘s Shorts push, longer content is winning. U.S. YouTube users now spend 8% more time on long-form videos than last year, with nearly 75% of total watch time going to videos more than 30 minutes long. more

• ♻️ YouTube wants your recycled content: The platform is partnering with Repurpose.io to automate reposting TikTok and Instagram Reels content to Shorts. The tool lets users set up an automatic production flow for existing or future content, posting directly from their TikTok or Reels library to Shorts. more

  • The company is offering 3 months of free usage, with up to five videos scheduled per day.

• Meta's Reality Labs saw record Q4 sales, with Quest device usage and new user growth rising. With younger audiences driving this shift, Meta’s now pushing to make the metaverse a social-first platform. more

• LinkedIn is ramping up its video tools after reporting a 35% increase in video uploads and watch time compared to last year. more

  • A full-screen vertical video display for all users, not just mobile.

  • More video content in search results, with a new video carousel alongside other links.

  • New analytics for creators, including tracking average watch times.

• Snapchat announced new features for its paying subscribers. more

  • AI: Custom stickers generated from your messages (e.g., “let’s grab lunch” generates an image to match) and movie poster simulations, where you can see yourself in different film genres.

  • Snap Modes: New ways to snap, like self-destructing Snaps for fleeting moments and non-replayable Snap options.

  • Bitmoji Updates: New styles and Valentine’s Day-themed items.

Commerce 🛒 

• Shopify, traditionally catering to small businesses, is now eyeing larger retailers to accelerate growth. Its strategy? A “Trojan horse” approach: lure big merchants with its fast checkout feature, Shop Pay, and expand from there. more 

TikTok’s Commerce Cousin

🔨 MARKETING TOOL OF THE DAY

I’m not sure how I missed this, but TikTok’s video editing sibling CapCut has a commerce platform called CapCut Commerce Pro. You just pop in your product link, and it whips up a slick promo video.

• Video Creation: Pop in a product link, and it whips up a slick marketing video.

• Batch Image Generation: Need a bunch of product photos? It handles bulk edits.

• AI Avatars and Voices: Add some personality to your vids with realistic avatars and voiceovers.

• Auto-Publishing and Analytics: Schedule posts across platforms and get the lowdown on how they're doing.

• E-commerce Integration: Syncs up with Shopify, TikTok Shop, and Amazon for product management.

Pricing isn't too bad either — $250/year.

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